•  
• Tweet
•  
•        Print
•  
•         Track Keywords
•  
• 

Loic Fery Benedicte Gravrand, Opalesque Geneva:

The environment is tough for hedge fund start-ups these days; that much is known. Participant at Opalesques recent London Roundtable came up with an interesting way to start-up successfully. They also discussed why it is good - or bad - that it has become more difficult to launch.

Over-investing in infrastructure as a way to help raise assets Loic Fery, founder and managing partner of Chenavari Investment Managers, a hedge fund firm focused on fixed income with $1.8bn in assets under management (AuM), recounted his experience when setting up his fund four years ago. His firm then over-invested in its infrastructure: it started with $35m in AuM but structured the firm as if it was a $500m fund.

"It allowed us to scale our business faster and helped us attract investors because of the way we were set up and that we had decided that 'being a few smart guys with Bloomberg terminals in a garage was simply not us." The firm has grown a lot since, and having this infrastructure was key "because certain boxes have to be ticked before the money flows into any asset manager."

"Of course, performance is important, but the truth is that today sophisticated investors spend more time with the operational DDQ than with the investment team of the manager," he added.

Some announcements of capital allocatio......................

To view our full article Click here